The Irish language was once spoken by many immigrants to the island of Newfoundland, which contained possibly the highest concentration of speakers outside of Ireland, before it disappeared in the early 20th century.

While Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally claimed Newfoundland as an English overseas possession in 1583, this did not lead to permanent European settlement.

[8] In the oral tradition of County Waterford, the poet Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara, a former hedge school teacher, is said to have sailed for Newfoundland around 1754.

During the 21st century, however, linguists discovered that several of Donnchadh Ruadh's poems in the Irish language contain multiple Gaelicized words and terms known to be unique to Newfoundland English.

[10] Donnchadh Ruadh provides a description of the rewards of going to Newfoundland (with a burlesque flavour) in a poem describing his deep sea-chest filled with eggs, butter, bacon and other necessities: Do thug an pobal i bhfochair a chéile Chum mo chothuighthe i gcogadh nó i spéirlinn – Stór nach g-caillfeadh suim de laethibh, As cófra doimhin a d-toilfinn féin ann; Do bhí seach bh-fichid ubh circe 'gus eunla ann Le h-aghaidh a n-ithte chomh minic 's badh mhéin liom – Cróca ime do dingeadh le saothar As spóla soille ba throime 'ná déarfainn ...[11] The people brought together So as to nourish me in war or strife – A treasure that they would not lose for many a day, And a deep chest that I would like myself; There were a hundred and forty hens' eggs and birds, For me to eat as often as I would wish – A crock packed tight with butter And a fat joint of meat heavier than I could tell.

Most landed in the Newfoundland ports of St. John's and Harbour Grace, and many moved on to smaller outports on the coast of the Avalon Peninsula.

It was also aided by the fact that legislation of 1803 designed to regulate conditions on British passenger vessels, making the passage too expensive for the poorest, such as the Irish, did not apply to Newfoundland, which was viewed as a fishery rather than a colony.

[19] The post-1815 economic collapse in Newfoundland after the Napoleonic Wars caused many of these Irish-speaking settlers to flee to the nearby Maritime colonies, taking their language with them.

[21] In letters to Dublin, the Catholic Bishop James Louis O'Donel, when requesting a Franciscan missionary for the parishes of St. Mary's and Trepassey, said that it was absolutely necessary that he should be able to speak Irish.

Furthermore, the sixth President of St. Bonaventure's College in St. John's, Newfoundland was not only a member of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language, but also taught Irish-language classes there during the 1870s.

There is a lack of information of the sort available from the adjacent Province of New Brunswick (where, in the 1901 Census, several individuals and families listed Irish as their mother tongue and as a language still spoken by them).

O'Brien's paternal grandmother, Bridget Conway, had spoken Irish (which she had learned growing up in Ireland) but his father did not speak it.

O'Brien taught himself Irish by means of language records, cassette tapes, and the booklets of Eugene O'Growney, a notable figure in Ireland's Gaelic revival.

"[4] Ní Mheallaigh further wrote, "An important part of my role here in Newfoundland is organising Irish language events, both in the university and the community.

The students took part in the international Conradh na Gaeilge events for 'Gaeilge 24' and we will have Gaelic sports and a huge Céilí mór later in March.